Tag Archives: chess

Forget Trump! Wijk aan Zee will be the center of the chess world in January. The small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk is always worth a visit, albeit it is often cold and windy in January.

The town looks different in the summer though! A few years ago I visited Wijk in the summer, to find out how this place looks like when people are not wearing hats, scarfs and handgloves.

Bergweide in Wijk aan Zee.

You can read tournament previews on several websites and many chess players will follow the games online in the next weeks. Many chess fans will also follow Twitter during the event, which will be played from January 13-29 2017. But who to follow during TataSteelChess 2017? Here is a comprehensive guide of the players with a Twitter account.

The organisation

First of all, you should add the official account @tatasteelchess to your watchlist. Do not forget the account of Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg, @jvdbergchess. The official hashtag is #tatasteelchess, which is used in the tweets of the official account. Sounds good, makes sense.

TD Jeroen van den Berg

If you are looking for fine pictures and videos, add the accounts of @lennartootes and @alinalami. Seriously: is there a tournament in this world in which Lennart is not involved? He will take care of the videos in Wijk. Alina l’Ami is the official tournament photographer and she will not only put pictures on the website, but she also often shares pictures on Twitter.

Family business: Erwin and Alina l’Ami (TataSteel 2011)

Pictures and hopefully some behind-the-screens tweets can be excpected from chess commentator and reporter Anna Rudolf, who joined the media team in Wijk aan Zee this year. Follow @anna_chess to stay up-to-date. She already posted some nice stuff before the event started. Recommended!

The players on Twitter

Many players who play in WAZ have a Twitter account. @MagnusCarlsen of course, but really, it is not a very up-to-date Twitter account. Magnus or his social media team hardly tweet, and I personally do not like it that he did not tweet a “thank you” to his fans after the world championship in New York.

@SergeyKarjakin is active on Twitter, you can often find some pictures on his account. It is also recommended to add the account of his lovely wife Galiya, @galiyachess.

Another star with an account is @Wesley_So, but his latest tweet is from 11 February 2012…. @LevAronian, who calls himself ‘chess gangsta‘ in his Twitter profile is active and often shows pictures of his girlfriend Arianne Caoli. You should follow her account @caoili as well to get pictures of Levon. Dutch number one @anishgiri is often very active on Twitter, especially during world championships. We will see if he finds the time to tweet during the tournament. His wife Sopiko Guramishvili plays in the “Challengers” tournament and her account is @Sopiko20.

Anish Giri: pondering over his next move or his next tweet?

Do you know who @lachesisq is, a Dota and Hearthstone fan? You know what, find that out yourself. @harichess is easier to guess, @Eljanovis a giveaway, just like @Radek_Wojtaszek. Richard Rapport is on Twitter with the handle @rjrapport, “KingLoek” van Wely @loekvanwely is still on Twitter, but his latest tweet was published in October 2015. Abhidan Baskaran has the handle @abhidanchess. His latest tweet (12 January) :”Off to Wijk! To fulfill the new year resolution! Tata Steel Masters here I come!”

Regular guest in Wijk aan Zee: KingLoek

I didn’t find many Twitter accounts of the Challengers, but I will be happy to update this guide in case I missed somebody. I found Gawain Jones @GMGawain, Nils Grandelius @GMGrandelius, @benjamin_bok, @erwinlami, Eric Hansen @hansenchess, @aryan_tari and @Sopiko20.

If you have a player account that I missed, let me know! Send a tweet to @ChessClassic. Thanks!

I think we all cannot hear the horrible ‘d-word’ anymore, but @TarjeiJS has some stats for you:“Carlsen’s 8 straight draws (incl Olympiad G11) his longest strreak since 09. Record is 9 draws in a row in Wijk aan Zee ’09”.

In my “behind-the-screen” world championship blog https://mateinmoscow.wordpress.com/, about the World Chess Championship 2012 in Moscow between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand, I posted a number of cartoons by German artist Fränk Stiefel. After the seven-game-draw snoozefest in New York, I remembered that I used this cartoon:

(cartoon by Fränk Stiefel)

I think, the cartoon speaks for itself.

Without further ado, let’s go to the tweets of game 8! The chess world expects, no needs a decisive game and the commentators obviously do not want to analyse another draw. @robertris: “Can’t wait for G8! Tension grows which will not help quality of the games, but expecting a decisive result!”

@GMJtis:“Lot of people (me included) expecting real action today in Carlsen- Karjakin. Think we’re feeling the law of averages, but still…”

@pietropilechi: “After 7 games we understood that they do know how to draw. Now let’s see if one of them knows how to win”.

Can you win a game when you use an opening system from the 19th century?

@dgriffinchess: “The system with 5.b3 has been played in a World Championship before. Gunsberg-Steinitz, 6th match-game, New York(!) 1890!”

@MarkTWIC: I said I felt something may happen today but not in this way. Carlsen’s opening hasn’t worked and he may be digging a hole for himself now.

@jonathan_rowson: “I wonder if Sergey realises he can win the match yet? If he plays 19…Bc6 now it’s a sign that he probably hasn’t.”

Time trouble

However, in time trouble, what started as a boring game suddenly became interesting because of some inaccurate moves by both players, and a tweet and a screenshot of the evaluation by @MadsStostad makes things clear: “Heeeeeerrregud #hjerteattakk”.

I don’t think you need Google Translate for the Norwegian word “hjerteattakk”.

@CraigoryC: “After a comedy of errors it seems we have arrived at an equal position once again. #DefWasNotABoringDraw”.

@CazHansen:Wow! What a game. Two big blunders in time trouble today. The games may end in draws, but they’re exciting”.

It was amusing to read two completely different opinions about the move c5 by Carlsen:

GM Daniel Gormally: @elgransenor1: “If Karjakin can’t win after the awful c5? Then when can he ever win?”

And what do you think, GM @jonathan_rowson: “Funny how the idea of ‘blunder’ has changed. Magnus’s c4-c5 probably saved his skin in practice, whatever the engines say.”

Exciting? Come on, you see these time trouble scrambles in the club every week, right? We are just happy finally seeing some fireworks after seven dull games.

@heastoida: “Nothing special, that’s what happens in my games pretty much all the time”.

And the game seemed to end in a draw soon, but let’s ask two experts: Malcom Pein @telegraphchess: “There comes a moment in WCC matches when it’s all about the nerves and not the position on the board. Its arrived”. @nigelshortchess:“OK, I understand this is supposedly a draw, but I would be very nervous with White”.

And ist is interesting to read the opinion of Top GM Teymur Rajabov: @rajachess: “Well,he (MC) is playing really bad chess here. And he is going to pay huge price for it in this match,if he keeps on going like this.”

@ChrisBirdIA: “Carlsen seems to be doing his darndest to lose this game. What the heck is going on today?”

@nigelshortchess:“If you keep playing with fire, eventually you get burned”.

@jonathan_rowson: “52…a2! Black wins. A thoroughly impressive game. I admire Magnus all the more. The will to win is also the will to lose.”

@havanavo: “Think it’s safe to say Carlsen is far from his best. But we should not overlook this was very impressive from Karjakin”.

@danielkingchess: “Carlsen forgot that Karjakin could play for a win. But this time, after some provocation, Karjakin remembered he could.”

And one last tweet for today. I started with a tweet by @TarjeiJS with some statistics, we end this one with more stats: “Karjakin-Carlsen 1-0. The Russian leads 4,5-3,5 after game 8. This is Carlsen’s first loss in 28 games.”

One day left before the first game of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin! Twitter is slowly heating up for the #Chess #Event #Of #The #Year.

@Tristadamus: “Magnus by name magnificent by nature @MagnusCarlsen lives for this sort of challenge.Karjackin sounds like a handle from grand theft auto…”

Obviously, on Wednesday there was some other news that dominated every Twitter timeline. Let’s check some reactions from the chess world and ask GM Jan Gustafsson what happened:

@GMJanGustafsson: “WTF! Must still be dreaming. No way this happened last night. Harrison Barnes scores 31?”

Bravo, NBA fan Jan gets his priorities straight. Other reactions:

@nigelshortchess:“So, the US failed the IQ test. Good morning everyone!” An unemotional reaction came from Mark Crowther:@MarkTWIC: “Just transferred all the dollars out of my Paypal account.” @Kasparov63 decided to tweet about the weather: “Winter Is Here.”

Talking about Kasparov, I spotted this rather weird tweet by journalist @StefanLoeffler: “Can @Kasparov63 be blamed for Trump’s victory? In politics (and chess politics) the former world champion is always on the loosing side”.

Stefan and Garry are not best buddies, I guess.

In an earlier blog post, I asked your predictions for the match. Jon Ludvig Hammer @gmjlh tweeted: “In the year of Trump and Brexit, 80/20 in betting markets suddenly not looking as comfortable for Magnus fans.” Jonathan Bryant @BerlinEndgame: “After what 2016 has given me so far I have no doubts whatsoever that Karjakin – the fan of the fascist dictatorship – will win”.

@anishgiri:“Media have approached me asking for #CarlsenKarjakin chances. I didn’t respond, but after a good thought I now give Karjakin approx. 36.8%.

@Patrick_JMT:“If Leo can win an Oscar, the Cubs the World Series and Trump the presidency, I’m putting $ on @SergeyKaryakin over @MagnusCarlsen”. @Lord_Goz: “Leicester Won the Premier league, Portugal the Euros. Trump the elections. @MagnusCarlsen Watch out!”

@thechessdrum: “@Cubs win World Series … Trump wins U.S. Presidency … should @MagnusCarlsen be concerned in #worldchesschampionship? #StrangerThings”

Perhaps, we should ask The Simpsons.

On Thursday, a rather uneventful opening press conference was held in New York. I can tell by experience, that the players do not like these events and want to return to their bubble as soon as possible. @TarjeiJS: “Looks like Carlsen and Karjakin meeting the press will get competition from a certain Trump meeting Obama. Easy choice.”

One tweet by @OlimpiuUrcan is all you need to know about the press conference: “That press conference was Carlsen giving a simul to seven different individuals on topics such as style, substance and self-confidence.”

If you cannot wait for the match to begin, there is another formidable chess event in the US to follow: @GMHikaru: “On a more positive note, today is the start of the #ChampionsShowdown @CCSCSL and buona fortuna a tutti.”

FYI: Topalov, Nakamura, Caruana and Anand play in this event in St. Louis from November 10-14. They play classical, rapid and blitz chess.

Another tournament to watch is the European Club Cup in Novi Sad: @elgranasenor: “Is it just me or is the European club chess tournament just scarily strong? So many good players these days it’s actually depressing.”

Good players, like @anishgiri: “Big day. First win for papa.”

Last tweet of the day by @forwardchess: #CarlsenKarjakin Interesting Fact: @MagnusCarlsen turns 26 when the world c’ship match ends! His B’day falls on 30th Nov (Tie-break day)

Did you know… that the hashtag is so recognized that it was added to the Oxford Dictionary and the Scrabble Dictionary? ‘Hootsuite’ describes the hashtag as follows: The hashtag is likely the most popular means of categorizing content on social media. It makes your own content discoverable and allows you to find relevant content from other people and businesses. The hashtag also allows you to connect with and engage other social media users based on a common theme or interest.

Therefore, it is important to find a good hashtag for the World Championship in New York. Picking the wrong hashtag can result to awkward situations. Let’s have a look at the hashtag #therapist, for example:

-Intention: Therapist
-Interpreted: The Rapist
-Result: Entering into a completely different conversation online.

On Monday I tweeted : @ChessClassic:#CarlsenKarjakin seems to be the best hashtag for the match. Any other suggestions? #WCCCNYC2016AGONFIDE perhaps?

It did not take long before I got answers and suggestions: @TarjeiJS: #WorldChess2016 seems to be used by some prominent Agon people, but I refuse to use it!

@Pookita: “Yep. The only issue with #CarlsenKarjakin is remembering how to spell carjacking correctly. Otherwise, it’s the best”. David Llada agrees and tweets: @Lladini:“My vote goes to #CarlsenKarjakin. We need to make top player’s names, if not famous, at least recognizable.”

Sometimes you need to convince the organisers to use the right hashtag. @TarjeiJS: “I remember we managed to convince the Indians to use #AnandCarlsen back in 2013, instead of the laughable #FWCM2013”. @adatar: “Which idiot came up with that FWCM thing instead of players name???”

@asimpereira wrote: “Then thank goodness @lachesisq is not one of the players is not one of the players”. In case you are wondering who the person behind that handle is: Yan Nepomniachtchi, the Russian grandmaster who used to work in Team Carlsen, but decided to support Karjakin this year.

@pookita replied: “We’re worried about your young “double Anand.” He’d bury us in letters”. She speaks of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the 11-year old who is on his way to become the youngest GM ever. The hashtag #NepomniachtchiPraggnanandhaa comes to mind.

I think using the players names makes sense, therefore I will vote for and use #CarlsenKarjakin during the world championship. #WorldChess2016 refers to the official website, and from an organizers point of view this hashtag is understandable. However, as @lladini puts it: “No outsider would remember or feel curious about stuff like #FWCM2013 or #WorldChess2016”.

Talking about outsiders: I stumbled over a tweet by @samuaelalfaro: “Who is going to win the National Chess Championships in New York City? Carlsen or Karjakin.”

In other news on Tuesday: @kajasnare:“Just met @SergeyKaryakin at breakfast in NYC. Reports he is feeling good 3 days to go #worldchess2016”.

The question is: @ChessClubLive: “You are going to have breakfast with @MagnusCarlsen also?” @kajasnare: “He is invited. Got a feeling I will be stood up”.

@tarjeiJS:“Reuters reporting that Agon are suing chess sites to stop them from covering #CarlsenKarjakin”. @SusanPolgar: “Chess moves can’t be copyrighted and should never be copyrighted! This simply defies logic. Chess moves are for all to enjoy and learn from!”

And we have the first predictions coming in on Twitter: @amartinchess: “My prediction for Carlsen-Karyakin: An 6.5-5.5 unthrilling Carlsen win Plenty of hard fought , long games. Maybe a Berlin or two.”

What is your prediction? Send a tweet to @ChessClassic.

One last tweet for today, from the licensed NYC guide @tourguidestan who tweeted on Tuesday: “Fans aren’t exactly beating down the doors to get into the big chess match.”

Having a two-year break from world championship blogging was actually quite nice, but let’s go on with the blog! This time, I am a neutral observer…..

In the next weeks the World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Sergey Karjakin (Russia) in New York will be the main topic in this blog. After the match, I plan to give you a weekly overview of the most interesting chess related tweets.

It is still quiet in Chess World Championship Twitterland, a few days before the match starts, but I found a number of tweets. Let’s kick off with a funny tweet by my regular contributor from India, @reachvsara: ” The intrigues of World Chess Championships started! Browsing on to http://sergeykaryakin.com fwds to http://magnuscarlsen.com automatically!”

The trick still works, even a few days before the match. Sergey obviously does not seem to have a good social media expert in his team.

A good guide for people who obviously like to stay at home and watch online, like Zuckerberg and Gates: @nigelshortchess: “The @ChessBase “journalist” who wrote “Zuckerberg and Gates to Attend World Championship” claims that this did not imply they would attend.”

@Saderjock:“The beautiful flexibility of language. Like the Bible – it can mean anything.”

The journalist replied: @AlberSilver64: “It is very sad when the most important thing in one’s life is arguing about Bill Gates going to the WCh or not.”

@nigelshortchess: “No, it is about extremely shoddy standards of journalism at a very large chess news website.”

The players

Let’s have a look what the players post on Twitter. As a chess fan, you should add the accounts @Magnus Carlsen, with 130.000 followers and @SergeyKarjakin, who has 18.100 followers (6 November 2016).

Sergey obviously prepares in Florida, according to his tweet from 31 October: @SergeyKarjakin:“With my friend Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the match Miami-San Antonio! What a fight! Proud to touch the ball during the game. “

Sergey and Shak touching balls in Miami.

They boys do not tweet very often though, and I can tell from experience that the players will probably not tweet very often during the match. Attention: Follow the account @GaliyaChess, which is the account of Sergey’s wife Galiya Karyakina. You will not only be able to see the result of her shopping sprees in New York, but maybe some other stuff as well during the match.

You might think that 130.000 followers (Carlsen) is quite a lot, but when you check the site http://twittercounter.com/ you will see that the athlete with the most followers is Christiano Ronaldo @cristiano with almost 48 million followers. Reality check: Chess on Twitter is in the same league with sports like Darts, Table Tennis or Snooker.

Since there is not that much going on on Twitter about the match yet, let’s close this comeback column with a tweet by @chessnotes:

“So, 2016 World Chess Championship (two years since last one) starts in five days. Where’s the media blitz?

Well, I don’t know. What’s your view, @TarjeiJS: “I really hope Agon will succeed, but this is their last chance. If they can’t do it in NY, they never will.”

BTW: do we have an official match hashtag yet? Send in suggestions to my acccount @ChessClassic. And if you see any interesting tweets or do have an interesting chess related account yourself, send a tweet to @ChessClassic. Thanks!

Oh yes, we all had a good laugh at the opening ceremony on Friday, when unexpectedly the “Dallas” theme was played, the moment our great leader, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov entered the stage. @pookita suggested another song: “I think they should’ve gone back further – in line with the 60s theme – I Love Lucy theme?”

I think that the most appropiate walk-on song for the FIDE president is “Money, Money Money, by Abba.

Well, talking about walk-on songs. A year or so ago I wrote an article for a German chess magazine about the lessons chess can learn from other so-called fringe sports like snooker or darts, which attract much more coverage in the press than chess. Darts has developed from a pub sport to a very popular sport that attracts large crowds. Many innovations for the audience were made by a highly professional organisation, the PDC, Professional Darts Corporation. Everything the chess world is dreaming of (TV, large crowds, spectator friendly coverage), was put into effect in the darts world in a rather short period of time (20 years). Exactly, that is how long Kirsan is the president of FIDE….but didn’t he say something about going back to the sixties at the opening press conference? That is the future of chess for you!

One of the nice innovations in darts is the walk-on song, before the players enter the oche to play their match You create a “big-time” atmosphere by using a song, picked by the player.

Question to you, dear reader: which walk-on song could we pick for the players? I guess “Eye of the Tiger”, by Survivor is a good one for Anand, but I cannot really think of a good song for Carlsen. “Hammer to Fall”, by Queen?

Suggestions please! Send a tweet to @ChessClassic

Here is some inspiration:

Let’s go to game one then, shall we? Everybody excited?

Nice twitpic, provided by @Europe_Echecs. All we need is a tweet that goes with the picture: @akash_mihir: “Sad that I am the only one excited & no one around me had a clue whats happening.

Some prominent spectators and tweeters are around of course:

@anishgiri:“As a spectator, hope the White Tiger will go for the Champ’s throat in the first game already!”@garylanchess: “I am sticking with my prediction of Anand winning the first game within 44 moves.”

@FabianoCaruana: “The WC match may be an outdated format, but this is still THE chess event of the year”.

It is, but NOT of you organize a world championship in a ghost town like Sochi. How many spectators came today?

@ChessVibes: “Carlsen-Anand has started! Besides a few dozen FIDE officials, there’s only a handful of spectators.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“FIDE loves to talk big numbers but the stray dogs in Sochi are likely to outnumber the number of visiting spectators to a world title match.”

How to follow the games? There are plenty of websites where you can follow the games, mostly with a strong chess engine. Some of the tweeters have useful advice for the spectators. Claudia Munoz aka @chesscampeona: “If you really want to grow during the match, don’t watch it with engine analysis. Write your analysis in a notebook.” And she added: “Everyone is a GM and a critic with chess engines, write down your own analysis and then compare it at the end of the game”.

However, not everybody seems to be interested in the game at all, as @TarjeiJS posted: “VG is speculating about Anand’s (lack of?) hair”.

@arjendoefke: “Does Anand wear a hairpiece?”

Comment by @rajkashana: “Norwegian tabloids have managed to sink to a level that is even below the Daily Mail”. @GMjtis: “Feel free to bombard #vgsjakk and tell them to stop the tasteless exercises in creative chess ‘coverage’.” @TarjeiJS: “I agree that was embarassing and unnecessary.”

Of course it was unnecessary, but admit it people: who did not giggle for a moment? I did.

Talking about coverage: the official commentators on the match website are GM Peter Svidler, @polborta and Sopiko Guramishvili @Sopiko20.

Twitpic provided by @Anna-Chess. And as expected, I found many tweets about the commentary, here are a few: @Eaviles94: “All I hear is Peter’s voice. It’s as if Sopiko is not even there.” @luimuilui: “Hi Peter, thank you for cutting short Sopiko, truely masterful.” @Chesscampeona: “I am not going to be shy about this, but I really really really like Peter Svidler’s deep voice”.

@anishgiri: “The female voice in the live broadcast strikes me as surprisingly familiar!!”. For the newbies: Sopiko is his girlfriend!

@fstimjp: “Hearing so many times Yeah even if from a friendly female voice is not helping listen to the live WC official commentary”.

Teymur Rajabov aka @rajachess:” I never had time to listen to @polborta press-conferences as we played same tournaments, but now we are not playing in the same tournament!” And he added: “And I am sure if Anand can’t outlast Magnus in the match,none of us can outlast Svidler at press-conferences :)”

And what did Svidler have to say? @polborta:“I will try to shut up and let @Sopiko20 talk, but since I honestly tried that today……. and quite obviously failed miserably, the results of this resolution are anyone’s guess.”

As you probably all know, the first game ended in a draw: @Unudurti: “Everything today: incisive opening prep, complex middlegame, and now a rich endgame. what is called a full “thali” meal :)” Or you can put it this way: @Dilipvanaman: “Vishy’s opening preparation – 75/100 marks, middle game – 50/100 marks, End game 25/100 marks”. @venkatachalamk1: “Round one drawwwwwww. Without draw, there is no charm in the game. Next round Anand is a black tiger or rather a black panther.”

Screenshot by @DeepMikey.

@DScaper: “Oops – @NastiaKarlovich must start to repeat the questions aloud if they can’t find an audience mike. The world is watching.”

What did the real experts think of the first game?

@jonathan_rowson: “Not too sure what to make of today’s game. Vishy was basically outplayed, but gained a morale boost from not collapsing”. @rajachess: It is a very good sign for Anand that he kept this position,he lost equal endgames in previous match,which decided the match”. @nigelshortchess: “Carlsen played very well today, but Vishy showed balls and did not succumb to pressure.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“ Anand stepped into the ring swinging. He dodged a knockout, retreated to his corner smiling, with one tooth missing: “At least I got balls.”

So what is next, @chesscampeona? “The good news for Anand is that he got a draw in round 1, the bad news for Anand is that now Magnus will have white in game 2”.

@anishgiri:Noticed that Magnus might have missed a serious win. chance with 42….Re3! (idea 43.Rd7+ Kh6 44.Rxb7 Rb3!). To be analysed.

One more day before the games of the 41st Chess Olympiad start in Tromsø. You will find lots of of previews, pictures and reports on the well known chess news websites. On this blog you can find the best, funniest and most remarkable tweets of the Olympiad in a storyline (more or less).

@Chess24.com: “One day to go”

Adventures of Naka

It is interesting to follow the adventures of Hikaru Nakamura, who desperately tries to get to Tromsø somehow, after he missed a connection in London.

@GMHikaru: “Can it get worse?? Now I apparently have no confirmed seat on the 2nd and can’t even arrive in Tromso till the 3rd evening at the earliest.”

On his Facebook site Nakamura posted a big story about his trip. I do not want to copy the whole story (this blog is called Chess in Tweets, not Chess on Facebook), but the last part is interesting:

“I simply do not understand why the organizers with a massive budget did not attempt to add a few extra flights so that A) the prices would be a bit cheaper even on original tickets and B)so that the availability would not be such an issue in the case of delays.”

@TarjeiJS: “Nakamura’s tweet about his cancelled flight already made it to the headlines in Norway”. @asimpereira: So have they agreed to shift Norway.. yet? Jonathan Tisdall replied: @GMjtis: Think they’re working on turning the country upside down to make the north more accessible for Naka ;-).

@Saetrus tweeted to Nakamura:” Welcome to the outskirts of the world…”

Perhaps Naka should contact his new sponsor Red Bull. After all, their slogan is: “Red Bull gives you Wings”.

@Chessnotes: “Should we start watching all the airports now for a big game of “Where’s @GMHikaru“?” And added this picture:

Long flight for this team as well: @OlimpiuUrcan: “Singapor’s Olympic team arriving in Tromsø after a 17-hour flight”, and added this twitpic:

@OlimpiuUrcan added: One thing that could ruin this long flight is some 20-year-old wearing a Putin T-shirt sitting next to me for the next 12 hours.

Eric Hansen @hansenchess: “Luggage lost in Paris but made it to Tromso. Hope I will get my bags by tomorrow or I may be forfeited for hygeine”. @AnishGiri: “And the mighty Dutch team has arrived @Tromso2014 too! We’re all ready”.

GM Nigel Short is on his way….@NigelShortChess: “The delights of wifi on planes! If we get hit by a Russian missile, I will tweet to inform you 🙂

Meanwhile…in Tromsø

@ISBREWater: “A Special ISBRE Water Logo For The Chess Olympiad Shipped With Love To Tromsø, Norway.

Nice stuff. Many players would definitely prefer a beer, but not everybody can afford to pay €8.77 for pint! (price according to www.pintprice.com). Yochanan Afek, who just plays an Open tournament in The Netherlands tweeted: @afekchess: “Lots of fun and success in Tromso! I still consider to rob a bank and join you. The beers in Vlissingen however are still way cheaper!”

Friday was a day for stamp lovers: @GMJtis: “Norway launching postage stamp dedicated to world champion Magnus Carlsen and the centenary of the chess federation, today in Tromsø.”

@TarjeiJS:” Carlsen clearly very excited about appearing on a stamp!”

@JohnChess: “The fact that nothing much excites him is the reason he’s such a good chessplayer.”

The visitors are getting ready for the Olympiad and spend some free time before the opening ceremony on Friday to explore Tromsø.

@TarjeiJS: “The nice thing about hosting a #ChessOlympiad in a small city as Tromsø, is that whenever you go, you will see chess players!”

@chessninja: “Walking across Tromsø with @Kasparov63, whose image is all over town, is like walking around Moscow w him back in the day. Every head turns.” @OlimpiuUrcan: “Who was the consultant who advised on these Kasparov posters all over Tromsø? That mournful dark goes really well with the “future” bit.”

i guess they did not stop to watch the game between Andrey Filatov and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. @GMastrokoukos:“While Kasparov’s camp is filling up Tromso with bad taste posters, Ilyumzhinov is in the city promoting chess!”

@pogonina: “Saw Ilyumzhinov and Filatov play giant chess on the street. Watched only the final, but Kramnik told me it was a good game overall! ;)”

Opening ceremony

In the evening the opening ceremony started, live on TV and on livestream for the rest of the world. @TarjeiJS:“Maybe I am biased, but if this opening ceremony don’t impress the chess world, nothing will. Excellent show! :)” @ChessNinja: “Opening ceremony. Come for the light show, stay for the speeches!”

Did I mention Magnus Carlsen already? Of course he was on stage. with the Norwegian team. @MarkTWIC: “You’d have thought Carlsen would have dressed up”, followed up with : “The rest of the team turned up in suits! OK slightly joking as his jeans probably cost more than my suit.”

The opening ceremony just lasted an hour: @Pookita: “58 minutes. How long was the World Championship opening ceremony in Chennai?? It might still be going on.”

Now that the opening ceremony is over pretty early, there is enough time for the players to prepare for the games. Apparantly, some people are looking forward to the games: @youareaphoney: “Hyped as fuck for Sjakk-OL “.

@GMJuditPolgar: “There will be great battles here starting from tomorrow 🙂 The playing hall of the Chess Olympiad in Tromso!”